INSTALLATION Sometimes it’s more than the flooring
Trouble shooting As I have done before, I’d like to share photos of some recent flooring installations I visited, and hopefully the problems I saw can help our readers to avoid these types of situations and help their customers avoid them as well. In some cases, troubleshooting goes beyond just the floor covering material and installation. There can be other circumstances. Curling resilient seams (photo 1) In this photograph, a rubber tile was installed in a medical facility over a new concrete slab. The installation happened back in the spring, and at that time the facility did not have any climate control. Initially everything Christopher was fine, until a few months later when Capobianco the project had progressed to the point that the HVAC system was activated. Within a week, all of the tile was curling like what you see in the photo. A flooring contractor was called in to investigate and do some moisture testing. The relative humidity test results (as per ASTMF 2170) were above 95 percent, which is way too high, which explains the condition. Prior to the HVAC going on, the slab and the air were somewhat in equilibrium. However, with the HVAC on, the humidity level in the air came down, so the moisture in the slab naturally moved toward the drier air above, affecting the adhesive at the seams first. They removed all of the tile in one of the rooms to allow the floor to dry out. I got there a week later and, in that room, observed a pattern of lighter gray lines approximately ½-inch wide, which appeared to follow the seams of the tile that was installed previously. This would indicate that the slab was drying at the seams of the tile where the moisture was able to pass upwards and into the air. F2170 tests were repeated in the same locations, had come down from the week before but were still above the allowable limits for the adhesive that was used. Since the facility was almost ready to open, they were embarking on an unusual plan to lift the affected tile and re-apply adhesive to get the edges to go flat. The lesson here is one that I have mentioned several times, and that is the importance of proper site con22
September/October 2020
ditions. Construction sites being what they are, we are often asked to install floor covering when the area is not yet at “in service” temperature and humidity as recommended. However, projects like this show the risk of doing so. The fact that the concrete was well above the flooring manufacturer and the adhesive manufacturers recommendations meant that there was no warranty on this floor. Wood floor buckling (photo 2) I was asked to look at a an eight-month-old, wood-floor installation that was warping. An engineered walnut plank floor had been installed in the employee lounge and pantry area of a corporate office space. There were two areas where the floor is cupping, meaning that the planks appear to be higher on the edges compared to the center of the board, a condition caused by moisture that causes the wood to swell. The first area was against an exterior door and I was told that there had been some water intrusion here. Caulking had been applied on the outside of the metal door saddle, and a thin strip of rubber weather stripping had been screwed to the bottom of the door on the outside. I reached underneath the door itself and found that there was no weather seal attached to bottom of the door. Some doors have this feature, which can serve like a gasket to help seal the door. I suggested that the door manufacturer be consulted to see if this is available on these doors. I did not have a level to check the grade of the patio outside the door, so I am not sure if it is level, pitched toward the building, or pitched away from the building. This is
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